In this episode, I discuss the 4 key things I think as doctors we should know about nutrition for our patients. I chat about the 'doctors giving dietary advice' debate and explore why we need to move past the debate to focus on doing our best for our patients, clearing up dietary confusion and collaborating with nutrition and dietetic professionals.

In this week's episode, I interview Esther Goldsmith, sports scientist with FitrWoman (@FitrWoman). FitrWoman is the world's first app to provide daily training and nutrition advice tailored to menstrual cycle hormone changes. The app aims to helps you track your menstrual cycle and provides personalized training and nutritional suggestions tailored to the changing hormone levels throughout your cycle. Menstrual health doesn’t crop up much in day to day conversation or on social media, but it’s so important that we normalise discussing it, to know what IS normal and what is not. I'm a proud FitrWoman brand champion, and I was very excited to collaborate with the FitrWoman team via Esther to bring you a podcast episode all about periods! Esther has a Masters in Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology, and completed her dissertation on the female athlete. In this episode, we discuss the basics of the menstrual cycle, and dive into how exercise and nutrition affect and can be affected by it. Happy listening!

In this week's episode, I chat to Angela Burke who is @theintegrativecoach on Instagram. Angela is originally from Galway, and has a background in Commerce as an undergraduate, and in Career Development and Coaching as a postgraduate. She now runs her own career coaching business based in Dublin, with the goal of helping people to live the life they desire, by securing the jobs and ultimately building the career that enables them to do that. We chat about the challenges of career choices at school-leaving, postgraduate and adult level. It was such an insightful conversation and I hope you guys take value from our chat!

This week on the podcast I am delighted to have registered nurse and evidence-based nutritionist Robyn Taaffe, founder of The Lifestyle Clinic in Dublin, as my guest. Robyn runs the Instagram page @thelifestyle_clinic as well as her busy nurse-led lifestyle medicine clinic in Dublin. She advocates a non-diet approach to food and nutrition in her clinic, as well as placing equal importance on movement and self-care. In this episode we discuss what diet culture is and how we can spot it, relationships with food, weight stigma, and the importance of self-compassion. I absolutely loved recording this episode and I hope you all enjoy it too.

Disclaimer: In this episode, Robyn and I discuss various issues around diets, food relationships and food restriction. If you listen to this episode and identify with any symptoms of concern discussed, it's important to consider seeking in-person consultation and advice from a healthcare professional such as your general practitioner or a registered nutrition professional.

I'm delighted to bring you guys the highly anticipated Part 2 of my mental health podcast episode with Joe O'Brien, mental health researcher working at Spectrum Mental Health and creator of the fantastic @headfirst0 Instagram page and Head First podcast. In this episode, we discuss social media, it's possible effects on our mental health, and the questions we're all wondering - how addictive is it, and what does problematic use of these apps look like? We then move onto discuss alcohol in Ireland, looking at the quantity we consume and the pattern of consumption in this country. We discuss how alcohol can impact our mental health, the importance of being aware of Ireland's low risk weekly guidelines for consumption (i.e. maximum limits we should not exceed!) and the stigma surrounding drinking less and/or abstaining entirely. I hope you guys enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it! Be sure to tag myself and Joe in your Instagram stories if you listen, and let us know what you think of our chat! And of course, give @headfirst0 a follow on Instagram, you'll be glad you did!

The Podcast is back! I'm excited to be bringing you guys a brand new episode sharing some life updates from me personally and work-related, as well as a little recap on who I am and what my message as a doctor is! The main focus of this episode is sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity, looking at the research on the topic of sitting time and of course, sharing some simple steps to build movement into our day.

This week on the Podcast, the focus is on redefining how we think about fitness and figuring out ways to make sure our movement and exercise is both enjoyable and sustainable. My guest is personal trainer, fitness influencer and nutrition coach Nathalie Lennon (@nathalielennon_ on Instagram), who is also a good friend of mine and an all round positive, inspirational powerhouse of a gal! Nathalie's message is centred around focusing on the mental and physical health benefits exercise can bring us, and ensuring the activity we do is enjoyable and sustainable. We also discuss in our chat a little bit about the importance of avoiding comparisons with others on social media, as well as tips to help you overcome fitness challenges such as a lack of time, money for gym membership, and feeling under-confident or motivated to give something new a go. I hope you enjoy this week's episode! This is the last on my series for a little while - I'll be back with more episodes over the summer soon, but I'm taking a short break from recording to move my life to the West of Ireland and start a new job - exciting! Thank you for tuning in each week and I can't wait to bring you more soon!

This week on the Podcast we are chatting about YOGA! I've been practising yoga for over a year now and have had many questions from you guys about how and why I got started. I've brought the topic to the Podcast to hopefully help you guys give yoga a try whether at home, in a class or both, and also to bust some common myths and confusion about yoga (spoiler alert - it's not possible to be 'bad' at yoga!). This week's guest is yoga teacher Ruth Delahunty, who is also a graphic designer, mom of three and creator of Yogaru (@yogaru_ireland). Yogaru is centred around Ruth's 108 Asana Yoga Sequencing Cards, which aim to help simplify and de-mystify yoga, and bring us all the 'feel good' factor from our practice whether beginner, intermediate or advanced. I hope you guys enjoy this episode, and feel inspired to give yoga a try yourselves after listening! As always, let us know if you listen - find me @theirishbalance on Instagram and Ruth @yogaru_ireland.

In this week's episode of the podcast I'm chatting to Fiona Staunton, Ballymaloe-trained chef, Home Economics teacher and creator of Fiona's Food for Life (@fionasfoodforlife). I met Fiona earlier this year and was delighted to attend one of her fantastic cookery demonstrations a few weeks back. I've brought her on the podcast to share her ethos with you guys - 'Cook, Eat, Nourish' - all about showing us how to make cooking healthy, tasty and nourishing meals and snacks in a simplified and more accessible way, with a bit of fun in there too! Let us know if you tune in and enjoy the episode (tag Fiona and myself @theirishbalance, or drop a comment), and if you haven't already, subscribe and leave a rating on iTunes so I can bring the Podcast to more and more people! Happy listening!

In this week's episode, I chat all things realistic self-care with Vicky (@theflourishingpantry) and Lauren (@the_nutritionist_foodie), friends of mine, female entrepreneurs and co-founders of The Reset Retreats. We chat about why the girls started their retreats business, and then dive into why self-care is more than a buzzword, and why it's so important to find simple accessible ways to integrate self-care strategies into our daily busy lives. This is one of my favourite podcast episodes on my series to date, and I know you guys will take a lot of value from it. We even bust self-care myths! Do let us know if you tune in, and definitely check out The Reset Retreats if you're interested (@thereset_me).

In this episode, I take a deep dive into the Blue Zones - longevity hotspots around the world where populations live the longest, healthiest lives. I discuss the 5 cornerstones of their lifestyles that have been identified to contribute towards their health - natural movement, nourishment, connection, reflection and purpose.

I am delighted to bring you guys a Part 2 of my interview with UK-registered dietitian from Ireland Maeve Hanan (@dieteticallyspeaking on Instagram - give this girl a follow!), who runs the blog www.dieteticallyspeaking.com and is a wonderful voice of reason in person and online on all things food and nutrition. Maeve advocates a no-nonsense, healthy and sustainable approach to how we eat and this is clear from the balanced, evidence-based content she shares. In this second episode, we dive straight into some of the most common diet 'fads' and myths making the rounds over the last year, which Maeve has also researched and written about on her blog. I know you guys will take such value from this episode - it's full of common sense, accessible science and bit of a giggle in there too. I'm very grateful to Maeve for sharing her time, knowledge and experience with us. As always, if you tune in, get in touch, and let us know what you thought!

I am VERY excited to bring my podcast spotlight onto Nutrition, as a Part 1 of 2! My guest this week is UK-registered dietitian from Ireland (and friend of mine!) Maeve Hanan who runs the blog www.dieteticallyspeaking.com and is @dieteticallyspeaking on Instagram. Maeve advocates a no-nonsense approach to nutrition and this is clear from the balanced, evidence-based content she shares. In this episode, we take a close look at the basics around carbohydrates and fats, dive into some myth-busting about dairy, and focus on the recent trend towards 'plant-based' diets in the wider conversation about climate change. I know you guys are going to love this episode and learnt a huge amount from it, and I'm very grateful to Maeve for sharing her time, knowledge and experience with us.

This week's episode is focused on an area that doesn't get enough attention - mental health. I'm really excited to bring you guys the second interview on my Podcast - this week I'm chatting to Joe O'Brien, creator of the fantastic Instagram page and Podcast Head First (@headfirst0). Joe has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in Health Psychology, and his message and content is centred around raising awareness about mental health and reducing stigma around the topic, all through evidence-based content. We chat about so many things in this episode - positive mental health, stress, anxiety, mindfulness, meditation, and most importantly, why it's essential to normalise seeking help from a mental health professional if we are struggling. If you enjoy this episode and want to get in touch, leave a comment, send a message via social media or email to myself and Joe, we'd love to hear your feedback!

Disclaimer: This Podcast discusses mental health in a broad sense, but also discusses some symptoms and signs people may identify with that may indicate a mental health condition. As Joe and I say in our conversation, if you identify with any of these symptoms or signs, please seek in-person help from a mental health professional.

In this week's episode, I chat about the potential negative effects from unregulated health information online, how media myths confuse us and can lead to real world health harms, and why we need to trust and seek evidence-based information from qualified healthcare professionals in person - not Dr. Google!

In this week's episode, I chat about two really important health topics - alcohol intake in Ireland and the goal for a tobacco-free society. These lifestyle factors get less attention compared to diet and physical activity on social media but they are just as essential to address.

In this episode, I chat through a much requested topic - my path from medical school to hospital training as a doctor, and the challenges I faced along the way. I also share some VERY exciting news about a recent development in my medical career - the beginning of my path to become a public health specialist!

In this episode, I discuss the 4 key things I think as doctors we should know about nutrition for our patients. I chat about the 'doctors giving dietary advice' debate and explore why we need to move past the debate to focus on doing our best for our patients, clearing up dietary confusion and collaborating with nutrition and dietetic professionals.

In this week's episode, I discuss the concept of Healthy Ageing, a major focus of healthcare in Ireland (and globally!) given our ageing population and implications this has for healthcare services and society. I discuss simple healthy lifestyle tips for boosting our brain health and the importance of raising awareness around dementia prevention and management.

In this episode, I discuss three game changers from the last year of my life - the power of self talk, mindfulness and gratitude. I chat about why we need to tune into our inner voice, talk to ourselves like we would our best friend, and remember to be grateful for the little things in life.

In this week's episode, I bring you the first interview on The Irish Balance Podcast! My friend and fellow doctor Ceppie Merry joins me to chat all things health, wellness, her recent fellowship in Integrative Medicine and, of course, we chat about The Blue Zones, and finding your why!